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Additional options for improving vision? (Archive in eyes.)

Comments?
Misty L. Trepke
http://www.searching-alternatives.com

Avoiding Visual Degeneration

The following extract form Joseph
G.
Hattersley's partly published
specists-D.doc>Avoiding Visual Degeneration" paper is required
reading as it provides some solid information on how to retain one's
vision among other things. Once again the importance of proper
nutrition is again a the recurrent theme. While this may seem to
some as a non issue - it is the de facto route to health and simply
cannot be overlooked. The full paper, with proper formatting, side
bars and two and half pages of citations, can be accessed by
clicking on the above title.

Chris Gupta
http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2003/09/28/avoiding_visual_dege
neration.htm
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Part I. Do physicians really and truly want to help their patients,
even if it might cost them a lot of business? Ophthalmologists
withheld from two of my friends, information that might have saved
their vision.

An article in Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)
November 2, 1994, sings the praises of spinach. People who ate
Popeye's favorite daily suffered only one-tenth as much age-related
macular degeneration (AMD) as those who seldom ate spinach. And for
patients with the condition, eating spinach prevented worsening.

Research has now confirmed that three to four portions of spinach
weekly can reverse at least early AMD. "Dr. Richer, chief of the
optometry section at the Dept. of Veterans Affairs in North Chicago,
recently tested 14 patients who were showing the first signs of AMD.
After just 12 weeks of eating three to four portions of spinach a
week, those in the study showed 60% to 80% improvement in their AMD
tests. Among the eight who had either a hole or a distortion in
their vision, for seven the problem either improved or disappeared
completely."

The macula is a light-sensitive part of the central retinal area
near the optic nerve; it provides sharp central visual acuity. AMD
is the leading cause of blindness among American, Canadian and
English elderly, and it afflicts nearly 40 percent of the more than
10 million Americans with diabetes. AMD is a cousin of coronary
heart disease, and shares with it a common ancestor:
atherosclerosis. Free radicals promote and speed macular
degeneration as well as aging, heart disease, arthritis, and
Alzheimer's disease, among others.

The benefits result largely from spinach's thousands of carotenoids,
which are phytonutrients (plant nutrients) related to and including
carotenes. "High concentrations of lutein and zeaxanthin, both of
them carotenoids, are found in [and so, presumably, required by] the
retina of the eye, explaining why consuming them in diet protects
against macular degeneration." New research finds that eggs may be
an especially good source of lutein and zeaxanthin because
substances in the yolk make it easier for the body to absorb these
compounds. It is already known that eating eggs does not elevate
risk of heart attack; in fact, published research found that those
who ate more eggs had fewer heart attacks. So such findings
strengthen our recommendation to eat whole, natural foods
including all the eggs we want.

Besides AMD, many of these fight cancers and other afflictions; and
they do it better than beta-carotene, the only carotenoid found in
most vitamin supplements. Other dark-green leafy vegetables such as
kale, collards, and Brussels sprouts offer much the same multiple
nutrients/-vitamin/mineral benefits.

Two anecdotes reveal the extent of the eye-specialist problem.

A few years ago a bridge-playing friend of ours went to his eye
doctor with early macular degeneration. The doctor never mentioned
kale, chard, spinach or green tea. And now our friend can no longer
hunt deer, play bridge, repair things, read or engage in other much
loved activities.

A neighbor's mother had very advanced AMD; her eye doctor was using
lasers on her and more, yet the condition was worsening. My friend
noticed a huge bottle of
pill_that_kills.htm>aspirin
in her mother's house and suggested she stop taking it. After that,
her eye condition stabilized. Why?

(a) A letter in New England Journal of Medicine in 1988 reported
that aspirin can cause AMD. JD Kingham, MD, wrote, "Since 1983 at
our clinic, many elderly patients who present with decreased central
vision and macular hemorrhage [the most severe form of AMD] have a
history of recent ingestion of aspirin and other drugs known to
affect platelet function or the coagulation process."

(b) And patients with blocked arteries to the brain (a dangerous
stroke situation) have three times as many strokes from ruptured
arteries if they are taking an aspirin a day.

Dr. Kingham's discovery and that reported in Medical Tribune have
not been confirmed. But a massive computer literature search by Kirk
Hamilton, PA, publisher of Clinical Pearls News, Sacramento, CA,
found no refutation. So there is at least a caution flag on long-
term aspirin.

Fortunately, aspirin's anti-clotting benefits in lowering risk of
heart attack and stroke can be obtained without side effects in at
least two ways. (a) White willow bark, which the Greek physician
Dioscorides used in the first century AD. People with a headache
long chewed white willow bark. Bayer Co. derived aspirin itself from
the bark, modifying the molecule to make it patentable. This
modification is the source of excess bleeding, digestive upsets,
worsened gut permeability and 3,000 U.S. deaths a year
from aspirin poisoning, as well as the risk of ultimate blindness.

Jonathan V. Wright, MD, a leading alternative/integrative
practitioner in Kent, WA has found that two 400-milligram capsules
of the powdered bark provide about the same amount of salicin, the
active ingredient, as a baby aspirin. Four such capsules thin the
blood as effectively as an adult aspirin. (See Part 2.)

(b) Another alternative: three glasses daily of purple grape juice
can reduce platelet aggregation as much as a daily aspirin. "Blood
platelets floating in a juice solution clotted about 30% less than
platelets not in the juice, and released three times more chemicals
that widen blood vessels and inhibit clots." And unlike aspirin, the
flavonoids in purple grape juice remain effective when adrenaline
levels rise. In another test, purple grape juice lowered
susceptibility of LDL-cholesterol to oxidation.

Also, a published clinical test showed melatonin lowers eyeball
pressure in glaucoma patients. The insomnia age group - for whom its
use is safe and appropriate at 1 to 5 milligrams before bedtime --
is the same as the glaucoma age group.

Macular degeneration and diet. (1) In rats, excitotoxins rapidly
damage the macula, offering a new slant on burgeoning AMD. They
wreak many other ill effects on people consuming processed foods.
Monosodium glutamate (MSG),
poisoned_by_aspartame.htm>aspartame
(Nutra-Sweet®) and nearly all processed foods contain dangerous
quantities of glutamate, aspartate, cysteine and related compounds.
These excitotoxic drugs, added to foods, discharge nerve cells in
the mouth to augment the sensation of flavor. Addictive Aspartame
breaks down into carcinogenic, eye-destroying formaldehyde and
deadly methyl alcohol.

The public long ago began to be aware of some of the risks of MSG;
and so, to hide the deadly character of their products, food
processing companies adopted a laundry list of innocent-sounding
labels. Avoid all diet foods, diet drinks, and such products as
Accent, autolyzed yeast, HVP, hydrolyzed or texturized vegetable
protein -- especially bad because they contain three excitotoxins --
hydrolyzed plant protein, Kombu extract, Chinese seasoning, gourmet
powder, RL50, broth, bouillon, caseinate, flavoring and
natural flavoring. (It doesn't have to be labeled when it's in ice
cream.) Any of these are even more dangerous when heated.

"Natural"? MSG is found in, e.g., tomatoes and mushrooms -- but at
about 1,000th of the concentration used in food processing.
Incredibly, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rules permit
processed foods to contain large amounts of MSG but be labeled "no
MSG added."

(2) Eating one ounce of Olestra (Olean®)-containing chips daily for
two weeks lowered vision-protective carotene levels by 50 percent.

The eye specialists could perhaps be excused for not knowing about
how full spectrum light helps the eyes, and for not knowing that MSG-
and aspartame-polluted foods and Olean promote macular
degeneration. But both of them probably subscribe to JAMA and New
England Journal of Medicine, and so they had no excuse for keeping
quiet about kale, spinach and aspirin except their own financial
self-interest. They were wrong to deprive their patients of that
healing news and should be held responsible. Class-action
lawyers might look into this. Ophthalmologists may complain that
telling patients these truths could put them out of business. But
after cars replaced buggies, buggy-whip makers couldn't force people
to buy buggy whips. They learned new trades, and so can those eye
specialists.

Part II. A. Dr. Jonathan V. Wright's treatment. Dr. Wright said to
take selenium, taurine, vitamin E and zinc. And put DMSO (dimethyl
sulfoxide, a solvent obtainable at health food stores and paint
stores) on any part of the skin. The DMSO, which itself offers
powerful healing features, is a necessary part of the procedure: it
strongly increases absorption of these nutrients. Some patients of
his recovered from macular degeneration using this therapy and have
stayed clear of it for as long as four years. The method works
better in some cases than others.

The quantities, written on a prescription form:
Zinc, preferably picolinate, 30 mg x 2 = 60 mg/day;* zinc is best
absorbed when taken half an hour before breakfast; in a few, this
timing may cause nausea. The eye contains more zinc than any other
part of the body. Vitamin E, 800 mg/day Selenium, 500 micrograms/day
Taurine: 620 mg x 2 twice a day = 2+ grams/day. The label
instructions say not to use this amino acid when taking aspirin or
any product containing aspirin; take between meals or before a meal.
* Taking zinc supplement of this magnitude, you should have a
red-blood-cell copper blood test ($40, not paid by insurance) every
two months; and 500 mcg of selenium daily cannot continue for a long
time.

Full-spectrum light is also effective against seasonal depression
("SAD"). Nonseasonal depression benefits too, but not as much. It
has other major health benefits including reduction of tooth decay.
It has also greatly improved behavior of previously UV-deprived
children. For full-spectrum light fixtures, consult
www.ottbiolight.com. Cheaper equipment is inferior.

Vitamin D and calcium. Arthur A. Knapp, MD, used 50,000 units of
vitamin D and one gram of calcium on intermittent days. These helped
against eye conditions including myopia, keratoconus, cataract,
optic nerve atrophy and retinitis pigmentosa.

A related problem affects people with asthma. Inhaled steroids,
intended to block or reduce inflammation, were long claimed not to
circulate throughout the body. Yet for many older patients they
promote glaucoma, the leading cause of blindness in the population.
The risk appeared to be elevated by 44 percent compared to matched
patients not using inhaled steroids. Lea Davies of Georgetown
University Medical Center in Washington, DC, adds that
inhaled steroids may cause about one-third of the 3,000 glaucoma
cases developing each year among Americans over 65. Inhaled steroids
reduce bone density in the spines of women with asthma. The greater
the cumulative dose of inhaled steroids, the greater the reduction
in bone mineral density of the spine in women.

"The drugs commonly used in the treatment of allergic conditions,
including asthma, have many potentially harmful and dangerous side
effects. These antihistamines, steroid hormones, or xanthine
derivatives have side effects that may be merely annoying to a child
but in many instances are dangerous. For example, steroid treatment
of asthmatic children has been demonstrated to retard lung
maturation and physical growth and to cause a higher incidence of
cataracts in children receiving long-term steroid therapy."

Re: Additional options for improving vision? (Archive in eyes.)

Glad I changed my diet. nmi

Re: Additional options for improving vision? (Archive in eyes.)

To: Walt

Re: To: Walt